Generic Virus Thread

[Davkaus]

3 minutes ago, Genie said:

That’s a very generic response.

It's just my view. Generic? What do you want mate, a **** haiku?  

Appreciate they can add convenience - though queues elsewhere probably wouldn't be as long if they weren't constantly closing normal tills to force people to use these wretched things. I actually don't mind the ones you can take around the shop and scan as you go, because I feel less like I'm doing unpaid labour at the end of my shop. 

Bit off topic from the original point of internet shopping though, which I think is almost entirely a positive thing.

[bannedfromHandV]

1 minute ago, Davkaus said:

It's just my view. Generic? What do you want mate, a **** haiku?  

Appreciate they can add convenience - though queues elsewhere probably wouldn't be as long if they weren't constantly closing normal tills to force people to use these wretched things. I actually don't mind the ones you can take around the shop and scan as you go, because I feel less like I'm doing unpaid labour at the end of my shop. 

Bit off topic from the original point of internet shopping though, which I think is almost entirely a positive thing.

Unpaid labour? First world problems there pal.

[Davkaus]

I'm going to find a more appropriate thread to have a moan about self checkouts before the mods tell me off  

[Genie]

5 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

It's just my view. Generic? What do you want mate, a **** haiku?

Maybe an acceptance that it potentially saves the supermarket some money on wages (offset to a degree by investment in the tills) but it also opens up more tills that people can move through more quickly than the old way.

If I pop into Asda for a couple of boxes of beer I can slide through the self serve tills in no time. Win/win.

But back on topic, it’s really surprising that a country like Germany has not mass adopted online grocery shopping.

Did we ever get to the bottom of why they are doing so much better than us in terms of deaths? 

Edited December 13, 2020 by Genie

[HanoiVillan]

55 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

It's just my view. Generic? What do you want mate, a **** haiku?

I can't be the only person who would actually like you to put this opinion into a haiku.

[chrisp65]

Weird innit, the Germans looking after people and jobs.

How the hell do they make a success of their businesses, putting people and jobs first?

Better off out of it.

[sidcow]

1 hour ago, markavfc40 said:

They should, but they won't, go back on the Christmas relaxation of rules, Raab was clear about that this morning.

As @chrisp65and @Geniesaid they have made a rod for their own back by promising people they could meet up with 3 other households for 5 days over Christmas and they feel they daren't go back on it now regardless of how many lives it is likely to cost. 

Relaxing the rules so much over Christmas needed to be on the proviso we would get down to the levels we had in June/July when they relaxed the rules then but they were never going to get anywhere near that with shops/schools and in some areas hospitality open on top of it being winter and people spending way more time in doors.  

To be fair I think they've only done it because they know damn well people are going to do it anyway regardless. It's this odd thing about people insisting they MUST HAVE A NORMAL CHRISTMAS. 

[sidcow]

1 hour ago, Genie said:

That’s a very generic response. I’ve used them plenty of times to quickly pay for something that would have otherwise taken longer in a queue (especially in a big supermarket).

B and Q has become a nightmare since they took them out in Shirley. 

I don't know why but they just don't seem to like selling stuff to people. Only ever have 1 or at most 2 tills open, and always have queues. The self service tills were ace and I would love them back. 

Toy's r Us were the same. Always spent hours queuing there as well.  That went well for them. 

[HanoiVillan]

From today's Sunday Times, we get an account of who was briefing the government about whether or not to implement new coronavirus restrictions in September:

(from: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/48-hours-in-september-when-ministers-and-scientists-split-over-covid-lockdown-vg5xbpsfx)

You may be thinking to yourself 'Sunetra Gupta, hmmm, have I heard that name before?' or indeed you might not, but she is the same expert who told UnHerd back in May that 'I think that the epidemic has largely come and is on its way out in this country', and who insisted that a fatality rate of 1% was fear-mongering and that the fatality rate 'would be definitely less than 1 in 1000 and probably closer to 1 in 10,000'.

My problem is less with Gupta being wrong - even experts get things wrong - but that she has not, as far as I can see, adequately updated her views in light of being proven wrong, and why was Rishi Sunak inviting someone with such a bad predictive track record to be one of the four experts Johnson consulted before deciding against the September lockdown?

[Xela]

2 hours ago, bannedfromHandV said:

Also handy when you go in the local co op and pick up £20 worth of crisps, chocolate and milkshake and then don’t need to suffer the embarrassment of going to the counter to have it all packed and paid.

Exactly. I'd never go to the checkout to pay for a cucumber, some vaseline and a pair of marigolds. 

[Xela]

1 hour ago, sidcow said:

To be fair I think they've only done it because they know damn well people are going to do it anyway regardless. It's this odd thing about people insisting they MUST HAVE A NORMAL CHRISTMAS. 

This. 

It would seem the Germans are doing better as they seem to be better at following rules and guidelines. Maybe a stereotype but seems to be working for them. A lot of Brits are just self entitled and do what they want anyway. 

[sidcow]

6 minutes ago, Xela said:

Exactly. I'd never go to the checkout to pay for a cucumber, some vaseline and a pair of marigolds. 

It's why Stefan Postama enjoyed living in the UK so much. 

[Davkaus]

 

Quote

 

People must think "really carefully" about the risk of more social contact over Christmas, NHS bosses have warned.

"I don't want to be the Grinch who stole Christmas," said Chris Hopson, the head of NHS Providers.

But he pointed out that the US saw "record numbers" of cases and deaths after the Thanksgiving holiday - and said the NHS was worried about January.

The government's Dominic Raab said people needed the five-day relaxation of Covid rules on "an emotional level".

Meanwhile, the chances of the Oxford University vaccine being rolled out by the end of the year are "pretty high", the vaccine's architect Prof Sarah Gilbert has told the BBC.

 

Between 23 and 27 December, coronavirus restrictions are being relaxed across the UK, allowing three households to form a "bubble" and mix indoors and stay overnight.

But NHS Providers - which represents hospital trusts in England - has written to the PM urging him to "personally lead a better public debate about the risks inherent in the guidance" - although it stopped short of calling for a review of the rules over Christmas.

"There seems to be a sense at the moment that, 'hey because the government's put these rules down, there's no risk to people having more social contact over Christmas'," Mr Hopson told BBC Breakfast.

"Of course, part of it is about sticking to the rules but any kind of extra social contact over Christmas - particularly with those who are vulnerable to the virus - actually is very risky."

 

Remember when "protecting the NHS" was the priority. Here we are, the government issuing rules the NHS and the governments own scientific advisors recommend against, and NHS management are being forced to publicly advise people that the rules aren't really adequate to protect public safety.

If it were my choice I'd completely ban non-essential travel over the Christmas period,  ask for a realistic estimate of how long it'll take to vaccinate people who are in at risk groups, and then have a one off pair of bank holidays around a weekend at those dates to celebrate a postponed Christmas much more safely.

This is absolute madness, the spike we're going to see in early January is going to be quite concerning.

[Rds1983]

4 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

I can't be the only person who would actually like you to put this opinion into a haiku.

He hates self checkouts . 

Thinks people are out of work. 

Self scan guns are fine. 

[StefanAVFC]

The words that bring dread

Unexpected item in

Packing area

Edited December 13, 2020 by StefanAVFC

[HanoiVillan]

Her price gun silent

Sacked Sally turns tearfilled eyes

From beeping robots

[Rds1983]

I guess haiku's are like buses. You wait hours for one to turn up and then 3 arrive almost at once. 

[Xela]

Cash or card

The machine waits

Big cucumber

[Xela]

7 minutes ago, Rds1983 said:

I guess haiku's are like buses. You wait hours for one to turn up and then 3 arrive almost at once. 

1/10

Must do better. 

[StefanAVFC]

36 minutes ago, Rds1983 said:

Haikus, like buses

You wait and nothing arrives

Then 3 all at once

Fixed